ON A RUNNING HIGH!

This post is being brought to you high on endorphins! As you guys know, I’ve just taken part in the Great Manchester Run with Team Garmin.

& IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

It was such an honour to run, & not only run but be surrounded and supported by the Manchester community. To be amongst 30,000 dedicated participants. I was completely inspired.

You know, I can’t believe I almost let my limiting beliefs talk me out of it. I’m going to be completely honest with you, before accepting to do the run my thoughts were back and forth like;

..I am not a runner.

I haven’t ran in a year.

I don’t even own running shoes.

I’m just a regular girl who’s VERY interested in wellness.

I love fitness.

& I WANT A CHALLENGE!

BUT WHAT IF MY LEGS FORGET WHAT TO DO…

I realized there were two reasons I needed to do this.

Over the past year, I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me on how to face their insecurities that lie around the whole health and fitness industry. Often, new things can make us feel uneasy. Insecure. This is my reminder to you, that I FEEL YOU. I understand. I strive to create a platform that encourages people to be their best selves. So I’m telling you from experience; embrace those feelings of being uncomfortable. Welcome the challenge. Know that, new experiences = new opportunities. Mainly opportunity to grow, flourish & push you into the direction you want your life to be going in ♡

Another reason, was to really put what I preach into practice. To showcase the mental training I do every day. Know that my mind will push me. My body will support me. And of course, my Garmin; the holy grail of fitness trackers, will power me.

Whilst were here, my Garmin Forerunner 235 was a real game changer. It tracks distance, pace, time, heart rate and more, which links it to an app in real-time & offers tips, whilst keeping you connected to other runners. I’ve become completely obsessed with it. Not only to log running but to note my daily activity like steps, distance, calories and sleep.

It’s such a great way to keep yourself on track. I’m kinda getting OCD about it. According to this Harvard study:

“Few of these studies explored in any depth why pedometers are good motivators. One hunch: a pedometer puts a number to our physical activity efforts, and most of us respond to the concreteness of numbers, especially when it comes to exercise. Runners count miles, and swimmers, laps— and now walkers, with the help of pedometers, their steps.

Some experts invoke the self-efficacy theory as an explanation. In simplified terms, self-efficacy means having confidence that you can perform a task that’s set before you. What we’re asked to do when we wear a pedometer is to take more steps— not a daunting prospect for the average person. Walking 10,000 steps a day may seem like a lot but it is within reach given that many of us already take between 6,000 and 7,000 steps daily.

Put another way, those additional 3,000 to 4,000 steps add up to about a mile and a half, a distance most of us can cover in about 30 minutes. In busy lives, that’s not an inconsiderable amount of time, but we can find it, especially when you consider the exercise guidelines that say we can divide up that 30 minutes into 10-minute chunks and still get health benefits.

The average stride is about two-and-a-half feet long.

So if you have an average stride and you take 2,000 steps, you will have walked the equivalent of about a mile ( 5,000 feet, compared with 5,280 in a mile ).

And if you hit the 10,000 steps-a-day mark, you will have walked the equivalent of nearly five miles ( 25,000 feet, compared with the 26,400 in five miles ).

A reasonable goal for most people is to increase their average step count each week by 500 per day ( a quarter of a mile ) until they can average 10,000 a day with ease.”

Trying not to freak if I miss steps BUT I really wanna be walking 5 miles daily! That’s HUGE. & impressive. Plus the watch is so aesthetically pleasing in frost blue, that it distracts you from walking. In the best way possible. It just looks so cute on my wrist while I workout, run errands or grab a coconut matcha iced latte.

Which I’m going to go do now.

But tell me first, do you use a fitness tracker? Any other step counters? What’s your take on them? I bet you’re hooked too!